Football loses a true gent
Posted on | July 31, 2009 | No Comments
Holding out his hands, palms turned upwards, a look of resignation on his face, Bobby Robson once delivered the line;
“It’s the drug… …football is a drug.”
It was his simple way of answering a journalist’s question in the mid – 1990s, when he was already into his sixties. Something along the lines of “why do you still keep managing at your age?”.
The response applies to pretty much anyone who loves the game – young or old. It’s why we stand, refusing to sit, on a freezing slab of plastic and concrete on a Saturday afternoon in February.
It’s why we pay more cash than many of us earn in half a day’s or even a day’s work to get into a modern ground. It’s why I’m more than happy to fly the 2,000-mile round trip for a 90-minute match involving one of Sir Bobby’s former clubs, FC Barcelona.
We are, as ‘wor Bobby’ realised, addicted.
He is struggling with his habit no more. On Friday he died aged 76 after a long battle with cancer.
In England he will be best remembered for leading the national team to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, as well as memorable stints in charge at Ipswich and Newcastle United.
But fans across Europe will also bow their heads for a moment or two - he managed the likes of Porto, PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona, winning titles and respect at all of them.
Hopefully English memories will go beyond that one powder keg of a night in 1990 to the fact that throughout his entire career, the man conducted himself with charm and dignity.
With a glint in his ageing eyes and a smile on his face, the guy seemed to have time for everyone. Honest and enthusiastic in front of the glare of the television cameras, it was like having a friendly, well-travelled uncle in charge.
Football has lost more than a grey-haired memory in Turin, it’s lost an ambassador figure and one of its last surviving gentlemen.
Chris Breese
[Photo: Rockface CC]
Tags: Bobby Robson > FC Barcelona > Newcastle United > Porto > PSV Eindhoven
Comments
Leave a comment